The N.E.T. community is honored to announce two ECNU master’s students, Xiaodan Zheng and Jiayu He as this year’s respective winners of the Research Excellence Award and Community Impact Award. Both recipients commented on the encouragement and affirmation that receiving the award provided felt and look forward to a bright future in their research careers.
Research Excellence Award winner Xiaodan Zheng pursued research in higher-order cognitive functions in Professor Tian Xing’s SLANG laboratory. Xiaodan Zheng was in the last year of her master’s when she applied for the Award in May 2023, and she has now begun a career at the Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute.
Entering her second year in her master’s study in Applied Psychology, Community Impact Award winner Jiayu He is a member of Professor Gu Li’s Diversity Science Lab, where her research focuses on mental health of sexual minority individuals.
Both Xiaodan Zheng and Jiayu He share about the ways in which their research journeys have been shaped by their mentors, peers and the opportunities and resources available to them through N.E.T.
Academic Excellence Award
What do you find unique about the N.E.T Program? How has being a member of the N.E.T. community affected you and your research?
Xiaodan Zheng: “In Prof. Tian's lab, we know that we can seek his help any time we have a problem. Whether it’s during working hours or not, he always responds quickly on WeChat. Prof. Tian is highly dedicated to his work and maintains a rigorous approach. He provides suggestions on every small detail of the experiment, and readily helps troubleshoot problems throughout the process. From the overall framework to the wording of a paper, he patiently guides me through each step along the way. Whenever the research results did not meet our expectations, he would show me new ways to analyze the problem from multiple angles and always encourage me to not give up. He emphasized the importance of learning how to plan and how to break the process down step by step. In addition to academic research, Prof. Tian also supported me in pursuing an off-campus internship, an opportunity that allowed me to explore different career paths and gain valuable experiences beyond the academic realm.”
Community Impact Award
What do you find unique about the N.E.T Program? How has being a member of the N.E.T. community affected you and your research?
Jiayu He: “Being a member of the N.E.T. Community and the student representative this year, I have had the opportunity to assist other N.E.T. students, which has brought me great joy. By assisting the N.E.T. office in organizing activities, I have been able to develop and refine my organizational and coordination skills. Also, I have had the chance to meet students from various departments and research fields, which has fostered new interdisciplinary exchanges. These interactions have enabled us to share information, exchange technical and theoretical perspectives, and lay the foundation for future cooperation. The opportunities provided through these experiences have significantly expanded my network resources.”
